Take off with Terry

Thursday, February 14, 2013

In January, I was surprised to discover that Qantas, like many radio stations, plays love song requests on its "From the Heart" entertainment channel. Travelers heading to Australia can surprise a friend or loved one with a love song dedication on their flights by emailing a love song request to fromtheheart@qantas.com.au at least eight weeks before their month of travel. The show is taped monthly. The airline advises passengers that request a song dedication if their dedication has been chosen. If you are flying in mid-June, for example, you should probably email your song request sometime in early March so that your dedication might be taped in May.A spokesperson for Qantas advised by email: "The most requested song is Michael Buble's "Everything". Runner up is Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately". "From the Heart" has been on the air, in the air, with Qantas for ten years.
Approximately 2,000 dedications have been delivered. Isn't it nice to know that romance can fly year round?

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

On November 12th, Gogo unveiled its new and improved in-flight Wi-Fi system, ATG-4 (ATG stands for Air-to-Ground) which is currently onboard 40 of the 1,683 commercial airplanes in the U.S. that are currently equipped with Gogo in-flight internet systems. Virgin America, US Airways and Delta Airlines are the launch partners for ATG-4.

Passenger using Gogo in-flight on Virgin America

Travelers may only notice the improved speed and connectivity on a cross-country flight where in-flight Wi-Fi usage tends to be higher. Key improvements with ATG-4 are two modems rather than one and four antennas (two on the side and two underneath the plane). The positioning of the four antennae enable the aircraft to search for ground-based cellular towers in all directions of the plane. This allows ATG-4 to deliver a peak speed of 9.8 megabytes per second rather than ATG-3's 3.1 Mbps speed.

ATG-4 should allow about 65 passengers to comfortably connect whereas the current system can accommodate about 22 passengers comfortably. The system is designed for web surfing, e-mail, online chats, Facebook status updates and tweets rather than streaming video because of the amount of bandwidth video requires. If the system detects someone is trying to use Hulu or another video streaming service, their connectivity is automatically slowed down. Gogo Vision is the product offered by several airline partners where passengers can pay 99 cents to watch a TV show or $4.99 to watch a movie where the content is onboard the plane for seamless streaming.

Virgin America was the first airline to begin offering ATG-4 on one of its planes, an airbus named "screw it, let's do it." Virgin America spokesperson, Abby Lunardini, says the name comes from a Richard Branson quote about being an entrepreneur. "We just installed, so don't yet have a great deal of guest feedback, however on testing we definitely saw improved speed and bandwidth," says Lunardini.

In-flight Experience on Gogo test plane

When I had a chance to compare ATG-3 to ATG-4 on Gogo's Wi-Fi test lab plane, I noticed only a slight improvement in connectivity, but I was taxing the system tweeting photos. While testing ATG-4, one tweet actually got away from me before I could attach an image. It happened so quickly that I didn't realize I had prematurely tweeted, so I suspect sending emails would be greased lightning fast.

Live monitoring of connectivity on Gogo test flight. Right two graphs show both vertical and horizontal signal strength from the two ATG-4 modems onboard.

Gogo introduces holiday Wi-Fi packs
On November 14, Gogo rolled out Gogo Holiday packs with discounted prices for either two or three all day Wi-Fi passes good on any of Gogo's partner airlines (including Alaska, American, Delta, Virgin America and US Airways).

One of the chief advantages to me of in-flight Wi-Fi is that it can allow me to complete work while traveling, so that I can truly disconnect when I reach my destination... unless I'm on deadline.

Additional detail for Aviation enthusiasts

Gogo anticipates launching ATG-4 Wi-Fi service on American Airlines and United's p.s. fleet in 2013. An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed that American's new planes would be equipped with Gogo's ATG-4 system. Gogo's Chief Technology Officer, Anand Chari, says they expect 500 planes will be equipped with the new technology by the end of 2013.

American Airlines was the launch customer for Gogo in July 2008. Shortly thereafter, Virgin America partnered with Gogo to install Wi-Fi systems on its entire fleet.

Paul Skrbec of Delta Airlines says: "Delta has more than 560 domestic mainline aircraft and more than 250 Delta Connection 2-class regional jets equipped with Wi-Fi. More than 400,000 Delta customers on more than 3,400 flights daily experience in-flight connectivity on the world's largest fleet of Wi-Fi enabled aircraft. Delta will install Wi-Fi on all of its international wide body fleet by the end of 2015."

"US Airways is installing the Gogo's new ATG-4 technology on our fleet of Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. We are excited to improve the inflight Wi-Fi experience for our customers with the upgraded ATG-4 technology. Once the installation is complete, US Airways customers traveling on our Airbus A320 family aircraft will see enhanced Wi-Fi capacity aboard the plane as well as increased data speeds for a more consistent browsing experience," says US Airways spokesperson, Davien Anderson.

At the moment, Gogo's statistics show an average of one to seven passengers connecting in flight with the highest usage on cross-country flights. Virgin America's statistics are higher. In a survey the airline conducted, they found that between 30-40% of its passengers regularly use in-flight Wi-Fi.

All photographs by Terry Gardner, except the two noted which Virgin America contributed.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

After I blogged about my experience being delayed at the Miami airport for more than five hours on May 20, American Airlines customer service and social media representatives reached out to me within 24 hours.

On May 22, American Airlines sent out an e-mail to all the passengers on Flight 231 apologizing for the delay and awarding each passenger a few thousand bonus Aadvantage miles.

Having an American representative listen to what I thought were the miscommunications during my flight delay helped defuse any remaining anger. I was also happy to learn that American does take social media seriously and usually responds more effectively.

Annette Hernandez with American's Social Customer Service team called me, and said that they primarily receive positive comments for their responses via Twitter and Facebook. "When customers tweet about situations as you described on Sunday, our usual practice is to immediately contact personnel at the airport. Unfortunately, my team wasn’t responsive to your latter tweets to us and I’m truly sorry. The customer experience is very important to us and our goal is to respond to and help each customer who reaches out to us via Social. We’ve used your feedback to bring guidance to our team to ensure this doesn’t happen again," wrote Hernandez to me in a follow-up e-mail.

How could I not give American another chance after that response?

Later when I checked out American's pages on Twitter and Facebook, the feedback did seem positive. And today, when I checked American's Twitter page prior to posting this, I noticed that the tweetbacks during a couple of flight delays seemed far more responsive than the tweets I received in May.

Hernandez told me that the night my flight was delayed, Sunday, May 20, was the first Sunday that American had monitored social media. Prior to May 20, American only monitored social media Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

American Airlines now monitors social media from 6 a.m. to midnight daily. Its Twitter handle is @AmericanAir and the airline's Facebook page can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/aa.

Poor communication happens because we are all human after all. I do hope, however, that the next time there is a delay, communication will be straight forward with the passengers from the outset rather than giving us a line over and over again about "cleaning the plane." I told American that I had begun to think they were retrofitting the plane with shag carpeting or installing a jacuzzi.

After I was over my pique with American, I was once again eager to embrace any mileage earning opportunity. And last week I learned how to score 100 bonus miles simply by visiting American's "More Miles, More Smiles" campaign on Facebook. By entering you earn miles and help the American Airlines Kids in NeedSM program, which benefits many children's organizations including Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Each entry leads to a mileage donation from the airline to Kids in Need. More details are on American's Facebook page including the Summer Miles Sweepstakes in which Aadvantage members can win up to 100,000 miles.

Monday, May 21, 2012

If a guidebook exists on how to gracefully handle flight delays, American Airlines desperately needs a copy at its gates at Miami International Airport. Last night, the playbook used seemed designed to make passengers either give up on air travel entirely or never fly again or never again book a flight on American.

At our initial 5:35 p.m. boarding time for Flight 231, the gate agent at Gate D3 announced: "Your plane is here, but needs to be cleaned. We'll be boarding a few minutes later than scheduled."

Fifteen minutes or more passed with no additional announcement. Then my iPhone received a text, followed by a voice call from American Airlines' automated system advising that our flight was delayed and would now be departing from Gate D25. Five or ten minutes thereafter, the gate agent confirmed this info but offered no reason for the move or delay. No equipment problems were mentioned.

All the passengers agreeably made this initial schlep to a gate at least a six-minute walk away. But when we arrived at Gate D25, a new gate agent told us: "We are waiting on your flight to arrive from Los Angeles." At that point, we all wondered "what about the first plane?"

At this point, if American Airlines had told us there was an equipment problem with our first plane rather than acting as if we never had a first plane, a lot of frustration, anxiety and the need for airport police could have been avoided.

I began tweeting about our flight delay in the hope that social media would help. When I tweeted @AmericanAir that my flight was delayed, @AmericanAir responded: "Have a nice flight." (What?!) When my next tweet was a complaint, I received an apology but no information. So unlike JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, apparently American Airlines doesn't actually address customer service issues via Twitter.

When the second plane arrived, we were told it would be cleaned and then we'd be leaving. At that point, our flight was due to leave sometime after 8 p.m. As more than 15 minutes passed, I began wondering if the plane was receiving its spring cleaning or getting a facelift. While we sat wondering what was happening, passengers who had deplaned began telling other passengers that their plane left LAX two hours later than scheduled due to a problem with the plane's air conditioning. Thereafter, the gate agent advised that they were no longer "cleaning the plane," maintenance was actually trying to repair something.

At least 20 more minutes passed before the gate agent announced that we would be getting another aircraft, and we would probably be boarding it at Gate E9. He asked us to standby until he confirmed the info. At that point, I believe passengers remained calm, apparently grateful to receive any information - even if the news was bad and meant a gate change to another terminal.

Numerous times throughout our five-plus hour delay, I heard passengers express their desire for safety. Even though passengers had begun missing connections, everyone wanted to fly in a safe aircraft.

People began photographing this board as our delay grew longer and longer

By the time we arrived at our third gate, nerves were beginning to fray. Our flight seemed an international mix of Americans, Asians, Latin Americans, Australians and others with the international passengers appearing to be the most agitated.

Although the American Airlines agents at Gate E9 were the most communicative all night, many passengers seemed to have run out of patience, even though the gate agents seemed to be diligently rerouting people.

Unfortunately, the Gate E9 agents told us twice that our plane was being cleaned before finally telling us that there was an equipment issue with yet another 767. I honestly believe the gate agents imparted info as they received it, so I was grateful for at least receiving reliable information.

As passengers began surrounding the gate desk after it was announced that maintenance was working on something, I became worried about the safety of the two female gate agents.

Passengers begin surrounding the gate counter, and I began worrying
about the safety of the gate agents.

An Asian man in a white cap (center of the above picture) began pounding on the counter and other passengers were raising their voices. Since I saw no security personnel in sight, I called 911 and asked for the non-emergency department. I explained my concern for the safety of the two female gate agents and requested security come to Gate E9 right away.

When no one came within five minutes, and the situation continued to escalate, I used my phone's browser to find a number for the Miami International Airport Police. I was told help was on the way.

The two Airport Police Officers initially on the scene were Officer Julio Nolasco and Officer Montrial (whose last name I didn't get because he was quite agitated). Julio seemed very calming, but Montrial demanded immediate obedience. He asked the man in the white cap three times to go sit down, but the man refused to budge. So Montrial began pushing him from the gate podium into a seat in the passenger area.

Montrial is to the left towering over the man (unseen).
Two passengers seem to be videotaping the incident.

As Montrial demanded the man calm down, at least four other passengers seemed to start using their cell phones to videotape the police officers and the man in the white cap. (Video may surface on YouTube.)

Many passengers became protective of the man in the white cap as if the officer was too
aggressive in removing the man from the gate podium.

When I asked Montrial for his name and badge number, he asked me for my name and said that the FAA gave him the authority to arrest anyone at the podium, who didn't immediately sit down. I gave him my card and sat down. I had already told both officers that I was the passenger who had called them.

A supervisor with American Airlines (Luz) appeared after more police officers arrived, and she offered passengers $12 meal vouchers to go get something to eat. We would have to go back to Terminal D and needed to be back in approximately 20 minutes, so very few passengers accepted the voucher. It would have been more sensible to give us vouchers to use for food on the plane, but that didn't occur to anyone.

When Flight 231 finally left at approximately 11:45 p.m. last night, the flight crew seemed embarrassed. The pilot apologized for the delay and said he would dim the lights and not make many announcements in the hope that we could get some sleep. If our wait could have been as pleasant as our flight, American wouldn't have lost customers last night. When our flight landed, our pilot thanked us for flying with him and said he hoped that someday we'd give American Airlines another chance. In Miami, many passengers were saying they would never fly American again.

As a frequent flyer with American Airlines, I hoped the airline would redeem itself when we landed at LAX. But instead of several gate agents to greet all the passengers with missed connections who would need a hotel for the night, there was one lone gate agent when our flight landed after 1:30 a.m., who was directing all passengers needing rerouting to the Customer Relations office next to Gate 42A.

One lone gate agent when Flight 231 landed at LAX

When a flight has a weather or equipment issue, passengers want to be kept informed and told the truth, preferably every 15 or 20 minutes so that they can determine if they have time to grab food or go to the bathroom. If a gate agent doesn't have an update, announcing "no news" is better than feeling trapped at the gate, dependent on an automated text or voicemail for a flight update.

SuperShuttle then leaves passengers stranded

Nothing is worse than repeatedly that a plane is being cleaned, when that is not the fact or the issue -- except relying on SuperShuttle. When it became clear our flight would land after midnight, I couldn't take the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus home as planned, so I used my SuperShuttle app to book transportation home. I attempted to email SuperShuttle about the additional two-hour delay from Miami because I held for eight minutes without getting a human to answer the phone.

I checked in with SuperShuttle at 2:00 a.m., the girl clocked me in and said my shuttle to Santa Monica would arrive in ten minutes. When my shuttle didn't come, she told me to go sit down, that it was coming. Then she told three of us our shuttle numbers and said she was leaving for another terminal. My shuttle was number 820. It never came. At 3:00 a.m., a kind American Airlines employee named Carlos in American's baggage claim office wrote up the scenario in my flight record to help me get reimbursed by American for a taxi. At that point, SuperShuttle even had told me to take a taxi.

At 3:15 a.m., I caught a taxi home. I called and a Yellow Cab actually arrived within minutes. Maybe if Yellow Cab bought out American, we'd all arrive on time and in a good mood.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Last Friday, Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner test plane landed at
Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) to “Wow” a group of journalists
and American Airlines employees.

American Airlines is reinvigorating its brand with new, more fuel efficient airplanes including Boeing 777-300ERs,
737-800s along with the 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft as it reorganizes and
streamlines its business in Bankruptcy Court. American’s fleet renewal
includes retrofitting some of its Boeing 738-800s and its 757s. The airline says that over the next
five years this fleet renewal will give American Airlines the youngest fleet of
any major U.S. carrier.

In 2008, American Airlines ordered 42 Boeing 787-9
Dreamliners. The first 787-9
Dreamliner is due at the end of 2014. The Boeing Dreamliner is a long haul aircraft (routes haven't been determined yet). This year and next American will take delivery of 10 Boeing
777-300ERs, and it continues to receive the fuel-efficient 737-800 airplanes
that will replace American’s MD-80 fleet.

In May 2011, American began receiving new 737-800s with the
Boeing Sky Interior that adds LED lighting and a roomier interior with larger
overhead bins for carry-on luggage. I was a bit disappointed to see that the coach seats looked the same as on current 737-800s, and there is no back of seat entertainment.

A new 737-800 landed on Friday too. Although this plane features LED lighting,
it wasn't turned on when I checked out the plane. Notice the additional head room.

In 2013, American expects to begin receiving 130 current
generation Airbus 319 and 321 aircraft.
In 2017, American is set to begin receiving Airbus planes with the “Neo” next- generation engine
technology.

Highlights of the press conference and Dreamliner tour

American Airlines CEO, Tom Horton welcomed employees and
media to the press conference saying: “This good looking airplane is going to
look a lot better in silver.”
Welcoming the Dreamliner to DFW was aimed at showing what “the new
American looks like.”

American Airlines CEO, Tom Horton

During a tour of the test plane,
787 Brand Manager, Katherine Overby said that the plane has state of the
art engine technology and reduced maintenance features. Last December, the Dreamliner set the speed and
distance record by flying around the World in 42 hours (22 hours from Seattle
to Dhaka, Bangladash and 20 hours from Dhaka back to Seattle).

Although the test Dreamliner that visited DFW had a Rolls
Royce engine, Vice President of Sales for Boeing North America, John Wojick, says
that the Dreamliners American has ordered will have General Electric engines. All the 787 engines are tested to
withstand bird strikes. I asked
how airplane engines are tested to “ingest birds” and he said that
frozen chickens are used.

John Wojick, V.P. Sales for Boeing North America in the Dreamliner's economy cabin

Wojick says that ANA and Japan Airlines currently have the
11 Boeing Dreamliners currently in service. Since Continental was the first U.S. carrier to order a
Dreamliner back in 2007, I asked when United (which completed its merger with
Continental earlier this year) should get its first 787, and Wojick anticipates
it will be delivered sometime this Fall.

Business class seats on the test plane. Six different vendors
supply seats for the Dreamliner, so American's may look a bit different.

American employees (L to R) Jim Lorentsen and Rick Briggs
check out Biz class. The test plane didn't display First Class,
but both Business and First will have seats that fully recline.

Brooke and Paige (L to R), whose Dad works for
American Airlines, appear very comfy in Biz class

Wojick loves the 787’s sleek wing and raked wing tip. Overby
loves the fact the airplane improves passenger comfort and that the windows are up higher to allow passengers to see the
horizon.

Sleek wing of the Dreamliner

Overby highlighted some of
the window features for me in this
video tour.

My favorite features were the LED lighting, the window tint adjustments and the large screens on the back of seat entertainment modules on all the coach seats.

Signs of
Eco-Friendliness – quieter and more fuel efficient

The Dreamliner burns approximately
20% less fuel than similarly sized aircraft due to its new engines, increased
use of lightweight composite materials, more-efficient systems applications and
modern aerodynamics. Reducing fuel
consumption lowers the aircraft’s carbon emissions and the engines of the Dreamliner
have been designed to also emit less nitrogen oxide (NOx), which further
reduces the plane’s environmental impact.
And Boeing reports that the noise footprint of the 787 Dreamliner is 60%
smaller than similarly sized planes currently flying our environmentally
challenged skies.

Captain Randy Neville showed off the cockpit of the Boeing Test Dreamliner.

On my flight home from Dallas, I flew on an older American 737. We were packed in the plane like sardines and the shade for my window was cracked and difficult to raise or lower. The sooner American Airlines gets new planes, the better flying should be for passengers. And the Boeing Dreamliner with its fuel efficiency and smaller carbon footprint is this eco-nut's dream airplane.

Monday, May 14, 2012

No flight is pleasant when babies are crying. The same can be said about being kicked in the back for almost three hours between Dallas and Los Angeles. This woman looks nice and attractive, but she is the mother to avoid on a plane.

I should have tried to switch seats with her when she arrived at the end of my row, looked at a man by the window and announced: "I think you want to switch seats with me - unless you want to babysit my daughter." I was pinned against the window. The passenger next to me (in the middle seat) had already commandeered both armrests. As I pondered whether a packed flight can cause claustrophobia, the man in the window seat in row 17, moved up to our row, and the mother sat in his seat, directly behind me.

At times it seemed like her toddler was grabbing my seat, but most discomfort was caused by the baby. I repositioned my seat without any recline to see if that would help, but I still felt like my back was being constantly kicked. I attempted to sit without my back against the seat, but that didn't help. I kept praying that I would slip into a three hour coma. No luck.

After at least 30 minutes of continuous kicking, I looked back at the mother and even asked twice that she please do something so my seat wasn't being constantly kicked. She shrugged her shoulders. (I can't remember if she denied being about to do anything, but that's how I read her look.) It felt like she, her baby and her toddler kicked my seat nonstop for two hours and 50 minutes - mainly because the Mom kept putting her baby on the tray table where the creature wiggled and kicked nonstop. (Had the baby been seated elsewhere, I would have thought she was precious rather than a creature from the Kung Fu Lagoon.) After I asked the Mother twice to please make the constant kicking stop, I realized that I should have insisted or asked a flight attendant to insist that she hold the dang baby on her lap.

If you have ever been tortured by a Mom and a baby or a toddler on a plane, please comment and let me know if you had a better result. Flight attendants don't seem to ever intercede so I didn't ask for help on this flight. If any flight attendants read this and have a suggestion, please comment. I want to create self-defense tips for passengers who have been tortured by children and/or neglectful parents on a plane. On trips to Hawaii, I have regretted being in First Class, when the kids were positioned to kick my seat while their parents sat across the aisle, ignoring their children. In the future, I believe I will request parents change seats with me so that their kids can kick them in the back for five hours.

Below is a second photo. This woman was so inconsiderate, and yet I didn't have the guts to boldly snap her photo and announce I planned to post it online -- as a warning to other passengers. Instead both pictures were snapped discreetly over my head as we deplaned at LAX.

The toddler's arm is in front of the baby (directly behind the second seat).
If you see this Mama sitting down behind you, BEG TO SWITCH SEATS!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Royal Tyrell Museum creates a dinosaur dig just off Santa Monica Pier on April 25

"In Alberta, there's a location called Dinosaur Provincial Park, about two and a half hours east of Calgary, it's one of the richest places in the world. When you go on guided hikes, in places, it's impossible to take a step without crushing dinosaur bones under your feet," says Palaeontologist, Franciois Therrien, of the Royal Tyrrell Museum. He says the bones are actually in bedrock, and you walk around them in a guided area, so the bones are protected. Dr. Therrien and a group from Travel Alberta visited Santa Monica on April 25 to highlight the Canadian Badlands in eastern Alberta along with the Alberta's outdoor adventures ranging from the Calgary Stampede to hiking in Banff.

The Royal Tyrell has three T. Rex on display along with Albertosaurus, a 27 foot (nose to tail) replica of which was planted on the beach at the Santa Monica Pier in April to whet the appetite of locals for dino bones. Dr. Therrien says that visitors to Drumheller, Alberta, where the museum is located, get to see a treasure trove of dinosaur bones, and kids (including those over 18 sometimes posing as adults) can spend 90 minutes in a Dino Dig for $15 during the summer.

Palaeontologist Francois Thierren of the Royal Tyrrell Museum in
Alberta, Canada shows off a dinosaur bone replica (the real bone is in Canada ).

I told Therrien I loved seeing Sue the Dinosaur on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. He said that Sue is the largest, most complete T. Rex ever discovered. But he pointed out that Alberta's Badlands are chock full of dino bones. The closest thing to a dinosaur I might find on Chicago's Lakeshore Drive would be an overweight, trudging pedestrian.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is Canada's only museum dedicated to Palaeontology. With more than 130,000 specimens, the museum's galleries and exhibitions cover 3.9 billion years of life on earth from the dinosaurs to the Ice Age and the Age of Mammals. The cost for one-day admission at the Royal Tyrrell is $11 for adults (18+); $8 for seniors and $6 for kids (7-17) or $30 for a family (limit of 8). Two-day admission costs $16.50 for adults with discounts for seniors and kids.

Students from a school in West Hollywood took a field trip to learn about dinosaurs

Dr. Therrien studies and excavates real dinosaur fossils in Alberta and says: “Alberta is home to some of the world’s richest fossil beds and draws tourists from around the world to experience authentic dinosaur adventures."

Dinotour 2012 (June 29-July 2) – from $325 per night—A four day tour of the Canadian Badlands to dinosaur excavation sites and museums, guided by leading Canadian palaeontologists.

Rockies, Edmonton and the Badlands- from $160 per night includes admission to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, a Seven Wonders of the Badlands walk in Drumheller and overnight accommodations in Banff, Jasper, Edmonton and Calgary.